Realities of Failure
by BaxterBinx
Summary: When making plans failures are always taken into account, and there are always measures in place to prevent them. However, because of this sense of security the images of failures hardly cross peoples minds. Team Natsu naturally had everything under control. Until they didn't. In a single train ride Lucy greets failure first hand, her team frantically trying to beat the unexpected.


Lucy sat quietly with her arms folder in her lap, eyes alert, silently preparing to call out any of her spirits at any second. Instead of wearing her usual skirt and tank-top she was sporting a tight fitting pair of skinny jeans, a black long sleeved shirt, and no jewelry to speak of. Her hair was pulled up into a slicked-back bun as her head grew uncomfortably warm under the short, black wig their client had insisted she wear. In place of her light handed, classy eye makeup and rosy pink lips were thick, black lines encompassing her eyes with overdone mascara and a stale blood smile. It truly was a horrendous shade of red. Unlike the lively pigment that accompanied a true devil red lip, this color reminded Lucy of ancient wars where beasts slaughtered beasts for days on end with primitive violence and destruction, leaving a grotesque mess of stale, clotted blood in their wake. She shivered at the image. She didn't particularly dislike the darker thoughts that entered her mind, in fact they usually made for good writing, but this was nothing she ever wanted to see lingering behind her eyelids again.

Altogether Lucy felt like she was caught up in a particularly horrendous costume party. While she still felt like Lucy, it was hard for her to concentrate on her surroundings when her eyes would snag on one of the unnatural black strands framing her face. Her nerves flared chaotically whenever she glanced across the train cart to the man who sat in front of her, her mind seconds away from shattering under the unseen tension.

He was clad in a simple green tee-shirt with basic blue jeans and black sneakers. His long, bright blue locks fell messily into his face, hiding his piercing hazel eyes. He sat leaning against the window, lazily dragging his gaze from the floor the door opposite him at random. His arms sagged folded grumpily across his chest in apparent boredom, and he wore a deep scowl the deepened every time the train hit a particularly large bump.

When Lucy first walked into the train compartment she had to double check the little sheet of paper in her carefully manicured hand before cautiously sitting down. She was certain she was in the wrong place when she first saw the unsettling man.

"Fine weather we're having today, isn't it?" She pondered in a deeper voice she hoped matched her serious look. The man, who was staring at the floor when she first walked in, glanced pensively at her and replied in a gruff tone,

"I prefer pancakes with my orange juice."

Melting into her seat Lucy gave a sigh of relief as she recognized the code phrase, instantly recognizing Gray as her partner she had been partnered with. When Team Natsu first med their client three days ago to discuss strategy Erza suggested they pick partners then. However, the short man hiring them sharply reprimanded her for being so simple minded about the task at hand. If it hadn't been for her professionalism Lucy knew Erza would have knocked the man flat on his ass, a few limbs missing when she was done with him. But instead, to everyone's amazement, she respectfully apologized and inquired for his specific instructions. With a scoff his ego nearly visibly inflated with the deep, annoyed breath he took before continuing.

"These criminals aren't your usual run of the mill thugs. They aren't hooligans who lack resources and experience, and they're also not stupid enough to brand themselves with a dark guild. This gang is something entirely different than I've ever seen before. They're masters at their craft and are equally cunning as they are brutal. I trust you've been informed about their previous work yes?"

Lucy had shuddered then like she shuddered now at the violent thrill of war playing in her mind as the photos were passed around a quiet table in a back room of the guild hall late at night. Makarov stood at the head with the team filling in around him on both sides. By order of the client it was mandatory any mage who took the job become intimately familiar with the style of crime they would be expected to halt, and by order of magic council Makarov had to supervise the inspection of the graphic photos while Laxus guarded the massive wooden doors, deterring anyone who try to enter. However he mainly grumbled the whole time about how bored he was, and about how no on in their right mind would want to come to the guild at one in the morning. Rules were rules though, and they were just happy the council had delivered the top secret evidence at all, after consulting with the client that is.

As the train gave another sharp jerk upward and a hard crash back to the ground signifying yet another hefty bump, Lucy slowly lost herself in the memories of those pictures. She thought she was going to throw up that night as they slowly circulated around the small group. Erza being Erza sat straight faced, maybe grimacing at the more vulgar descriptions, but stony faced none the less. Both Gray and Natsu seemed a little green around the edges as well despite their aggressive denial when Makarov offered them a few moments break in a separate, secure room. Even Laxus, who caught glimpses of the small horrors every so often, was eerily silent, clearly disturbed by what he saw. The only one who was able to keep a straight face the entire night without fail was Makarov, though Lucy guessed it wasn't an achievement lightly earned through his life.

This gang in question was notorious for boarding trains, killing the conductor, and torturing the passengers out of their valuables. All the men were instantly killed once they delivered their wallets, and then the children would be picked off throughout the remaining ride. Sometimes the military forces found a mass grave of innocent bodies piled in a single compartment, supposedly to make the execution easier. Though this was a considerably rare occurrence. When the train would finally roll into the station police would be greeting with nothing more than messy corpses and tear stained lather. The gang and women were both nowhere to be seen, and when officials traced the tracks back to its previous station they would be baffled to find no scene of entry and evacuation of such a stampede of people. In order to commit such crimes as efficiently and effectively both magic council members and standard police agreed the gang must range between fifteen and twenty people. There was just no conceivable way, magic or not, for such bloody violence to expand over an entire train without those types of numbers, so why the hell couldn't they find a single foot print leading to or from the tracks.

When approached with the question of probably escape methods Team Natsu's client once again scoffed, an action Lucy determined he was unmistakably fond of, and gave an annoyed sweep over the team of mages before answering.

"Obviously they have a sort of teleportation magic or device within their ranks."

Erza, her patience with the arrogant man waning, gave a curt nod of appreciation before shifting the conversation effectively.

"Thank you for your insight, sir. Now back to the question of earlier of how to go about capturing this gang. I believe my suggestion of picking partners tonight was ill informed, so I wish to hear your method of partnering up so tomorrow we can initiate our plan as soon as possible."

The man, clearly growing more agitated the longer the Team sat in his lounge area, bristled slightly as Erza's less than convincing sincerity.

"I warn you girl, you watch that tone or you shall get none of your reward." He threatened, his finely groomed mustache twitching with each syllable. Silence invaded the room with its piercing noise of nothingness causing Lucy's arms to twitch in her lap, and her breath to become ragged. Natsu and Gray visibly tensed at the new developments, their facial expression fighting to remain neutral as to not cause further friction. Erza, her face taking on the cold expression that held a thundering storm Lucy knew too well, shifted dominantly in her seat with her back straight and hair falling around her armored shoulders in a thick wall. Glancing down, Lucy saw the knight's hands were gripping her freshly ironed skirt so tight her knuckles were a chalky shade of white. Then, as suddenly as Lucy had noticed their tremors, they stopped.

With that the uncertain tension that floated stiffly around them suddenly constricted, become thick coils around Lucy's throat as her mind raced to solve the quickly degrading civility they were trying to desperately to uphold. Glancing quickly at her two male teammates who were sitting on opposite ends of the couch the celestial mage saw their body language had grown more rigid, their muscles guitar strings that would snap if they were tightened any further. Their eyes both held a dangerous fire that cracked and hissed dangerously, clearly ready to unleash at any further provocation. Snapping her attention back to the man in front of them, Lucy took quick notice of the two guards wielding magic-canceling rods that had suddenly appeared behind the short man. Sensing the delicate situation about to burst, she blurted out the thought that had been circulating teasingly in her mind the entire night.

"Without us your company goes belly-up. I would know. My name is Lucy Heartfilia, the daughter of Jude Heartfilia. I am the daughter of the man you bought the company from, and I know what this job means to business as much as you do."

Her words bounced off the walls and surrounded the feuding group, taunting her ears the second they left her mouth. They all waited then for what was either going to be a rapid mood swing, or the brawl they were all itching to start. The man's face darkened, and a low growl oozed between his slightly parted lips, her name clearly recognizable in his pathetically narrow mind. A name he apparently found distasteful.

"What the hell would a runaway like you know, you stupid brat? I don't give a rats-ass if you were the daughter of the great Jude Heartfilia. I'm calling your bluff and I'm calling the police to drag you trash out of my sight!" He hissed venomously.

Just then the guards began to move forward in a steady march, weapons now held threateningly towards the team as they quickly approached. Beside her Gray and Natsu launched to their feet, their hands in their respective fighting positions. Erza herself stood at a more deliberate pace, a new plan calculated clearly behind her icy eyes. With or without magic the scarlet haired mage knew they could take on the police force in the town with ease, especially if Erza could equip a sword before being stuck with the magic canceling spell released from the bland rod held by the two guards. The words already on her lips to summon her reequip spell, her concentration was suddenly broken by a familiar female voice that spoke out defiantly in front of her.

Standing in front of her friends in the small space between the team and the client Lucy flung her arms out to either side of her while she stared the man with a dead expression in her molten eyes.

"As someone who was to inherit my father's company and wealth I was subject to a number of tutors and meetings to learn the ins and outs of business. I can assure you, sir, that I am not bluffing you. With a scandal such as this the people have already taken notice of your apparent apathy towards the situation, and therefor towards the safety and value of your customer's lives. You may believe you are the railway industry, however, I am pleased to inform you of your building competition who are simply waiting for you to miss this golden opportunity. Already to Anvali family has sent out similar request to guilds in order to solve your problem. Are you willing to sacrifice the strongest team in Fiore simply because you were treated in a way you are unaccustomed to?"

Her question hung in the air, but it was her unspoken proposition that rang in the man's ears. He could either have this problem solved in a matter of one train ride, or he could risk losing it all while he waiting for a new team of mages to accept his request, and then while prolonging his wait even more at their certain lack of ability in comparison to the team before him. Everything stopped while he tersely battled the pros and cons of the situation. The guards stopped marching, the team of mages stared ahead without blinking, and Lucy Heartfilia could no longer feel her racing heartbeat as her mind went fuzzy due to the stale breath held captive in her shriveling lungs.

"Fine. You will write your names down on separate scraps of paper, then I shall assign the pairs at random. Tomorrow morning at exactly 3 A.M. you will meet me in this very room at intervals of half an hour. At five-thirty you board the first train leaving the city, and will continue train hopping until your mission is completed. As soon as the gang has been adequately contained you shall receive your reward, and may return to your callus guild. Understood?"

Natsu let out a primal growl as the man finished speaking, his voice clipped and seemingly undeterred by the strained conditions crushing them mere seconds before. However, before her team had even formed the notion in their head to lash out, Lucy bowed low, her hair cascading over her petite face.

"Thank you very much, sir. We will follow your specified instructions. We'll leave now. Thank you, and goodnight."

Gray and Natsu both stared at their blond friend with wide eyes and fishlike mouths, their lips opening and closing silently as they tried to make sense of what just happened. Erza even stared ahead at the celestial mage in surprise for a solid fifteen seconds before regaining her composure. Bending low into a similar bow she said nothing, then just as quickly as she was looking at the floor she straightened once again, turned, and made her way to the door exiting the room. The man stared with blistering cold eyes as Lucy spun around as well, using her still outstretched arms to grab her male teammates and follow Erza into the connecting hall. Once they were out of the thick air of the lounge like room, Lucy drew in a deep breath as the weight of the situation slid off her mind. They had continued their trek in silence, only speaking once they were outside and off the business man's property. Natsu huffed on and on about what a jerk their client had been with Gray imputing his own colorful arsenal of insults and foul language whenever Natsu needed a greedy breath of air. Erza didn't join in the heated rant, but she also made no moves to shut her teammates up either. The two boys were still talking animatedly when they reached their hotel, and then when they were upstairs they only paused their conversation to bid Erza and Lucy a brief, 'goodnight' before launching back into it, their door dampening their voices considerably. But then again, it only dampened their voices considerably.

Lucy realized that night they hadn't discussed anything further in the plan, like who would actually be able to drag themselves out of bed and out the door at the unholy hour of three in the morning. She suspected though as she crawled into bed that Erza would take the first shift, and then it would most likely be Lucy's turn as waking to mages next door was nearly impossible before ten. Lucy smirked to herself as she laid in bed, her mind comparing waking Natsu to raising the dead. The later would certainly prove easier. She entertained herself with these silly thoughts momentarily, then rolled onto her side to ask Erza a question that had been bothering her. However, she didn't get the response she was expecting. With a disbelieving huff she rolled onto her back once again, mind racing until she was finally dragged into sleep, and consequentially into a mind boggling dream.

As Lucy sat on the train now she strained to remember her dream, pushing deep into the recesses of her mind to further her search. It wasn't that the dream was terribly important to her, it was that the train ride had proven to be terribly boring thus far. Nothing was out of place, she noted, for the entire half hour they had been riding. The travel time was estimated to be no more than two and half hours, so while there was still plenty of time for something to go wrong, Lucy found herself drifting off into her own entertainment. Still half aware of her current situation she chuckled darkly at herself, betting her month's rent that all hell would break lose in mere seconds. However, everything stayed the exact same for another half hour with the exception of a few jarring bumps.

They were already an hour in when Lucy pulled herself from her thoughts with a bored sigh. She was grateful that this train hadn't been targeted, and most likely wouldn't be for the rest of the ride, but she was dreading the endless day of travel she was sure lay before her. She smirked to herself as images of a very green looking Natsu floated through her mind, and she said a silent prayer that it was Erza who had ended up being him partner. That was when the train gave a sudden lurch to the right.

Suddenly alive, Gray bolted straight up in his seat, his eyes narrowed and hands at the ready. His ears hummed in tune to the train's soft purr as it raced down the tracks, his mind searching for any slight disturbance. Lucy whispered softly into the air and suddenly Loke was at her side, his body stiff and eyes scanning the area thoroughly. He had been paying acute attention to the mission details since he sensed the heated argumentative magic rolling of his master in waves the day prior, so he wasted no time in incurring as to what the situation was when he appeared.

Glancing across at Gray, Lucy silently asked the burning question. Nodding his head, Gray walked towards the train compartment door. Waiting for Lucy to walk ahead of him, Loke brought up the rear of the group, prepared to watch his guild mate's backs as they entered the train corridor. As usual Gray held no hesitations before silently rolling the cart door open. Lucy held her breath as she followed Gray's towering from, her mind caught in a tsunami of calculations and planning. Though they all knew the basic plan, catch the gang before lives were lost, they had said little to nothing about the intricate details that would actually follow once the action started. Last night flashed in Lucy's mind once more, this time focusing on her brief conversation with Erza before her annoyed night of sleep. When Lucy had brought her uncertainty of the details they hadn't discussed regarding actually catching the psychopathic murderers to Erza, the red-head simply gave a small nod before rolling over and falling asleep, leaving Lucy to stare at her armored back in horror. She had just brought a very crucial question to light and all her friend could do was nod and fall asleep!? Lucy knew everyone was on edge and worn out from the dispute with their client, but she fell asleep last night grumbling about all the possible ways this mission could fail. It suddenly clicked with her as she wandered through the train compartment door that that was what she had dreamt about. All the possible ways they could fail. Though her mind conveniently spared her the images of what failure would actually look like last night, Lucy's mind apparently saw now as a fit time to flood her already swollen brain with gruesome images of death and sorrow.

The severity of failure suddenly hit Lucy, and it took her down in an instant.

She didn't know what happened. Once moment she was staring at the back of Gray's discolored head intently, plan after back-up plan already formed in her head, and then in the next she had inexplicably fallen to her knees in a painful crash as screams erupted around her. Her eyes glossed over with a dreamy fog of sorts, and the train hall began to dip dangerously to the left, even though she didn't feel her body following the same lilting motion. The sensation left her dizzy and forced her to close her eyes briefly to clear the uncomfortable feeling. Her mind numbly recognized that something was tugging at her shoulders, though she didn't feel any pain or sharp movements. It was as if in an instant she was suddenly gliding through a scene, unaffected by what was happening. In the distance she heard something that sounded like her name echo, but when she opened her eyes and turned her head to look all she saw was the dirty train floor.

Why was she on the floor?

As she contemplated the question the tugging sensation on her shoulders rapidly floated away, a sensation of pressure left over the farther the way the tugging drifted from her. It made her sad. The tugging didn't want to leave her. She felt her back and face grow slightly colder. There was a flash of light ahead of her, she was sure of it, but now when she tried to look her head wouldn't move at all. Why was it getting black? It was daytime when she last looked out the window. The flash of light was blue. Why were there so many colors to think about.

The window?

Another blast of light followed shortly after the first burst, only this time it felt different. It wasn't as bright, or blue, and she felt something shower on top of her. Trying to focus her dazed mind, Lucy noted that the shower felt sharp. It hurt. She was in pain. What the hell? Why was her hair moving to the right side of her face? Why won't they stop screaming? Why is she sharp?

Putting as much effort into finding the answers, she slowly began to tilt her head to the side. Tears immediately sprung from her glazed eyes.

Holy hell she was on fire! Her entire body was burning, an acidic sting engulfing her in a slow wave of agonizing flames. Her tears came faster as she kept moving, their own rolling bodies leaving blisters as they slid down her cheeks. Her mind began to frantically panic, every alarm sounding in a blistering headache that clawed at her skull in a desperate attempt to escape the confines of her body,

Stop!

The words threw themselves against Lucy's consumed mind, their big, black lettered frames pushing to the front on her attention. She needed to stop now before her brain exploded in a violent, bloody mess on the walls. Willing herself to end the pain, Lucy found herself seemingly unable to stop now that she had begun despite how much her body hissed at her to stop. As she continued to turn her head her hear hammered in against her ribs hard enough she was positive they were all cracking, one by one, adding to the intensifying pain. She felt all her veins shrivel inside her as her own blood filled her with poison and fire. Her skin was attempting to peel itself away from her inferno of a body layer by layer. Whatever had landed on her earlier felt as though it was being absorbed into her muscles, sinking its way in like holes being drilled into splintered wood that groaned to be left alone, unable to take the strain of being abused. Her body twitched violently, her nerves being pulled too taught, leaving them to snap abruptly. Lucy willed everything she thought she ever was stop moving. Her mind was going fuzzy, the tears rolling into her gaping mouth. She felt like she was drowning. She prayed she was drowning because then it would just end! She would finally stop! Stop moving!

She continued.

Finally, when she the black fuzz had engulfed most of her vision and her throat was aflame as her own tears strangled her, her head stopped moving. Greedily inhaling the crisp, fresh air that tasted slightly of spring and felt like the first breath taken by the sky after a lighting storm, Lucy panted in relief. In the moment of crystal clarity Lucy vowed she would never experience that pain again as it all ebbed away into the nothingness of earlier. She would die before experiencing those flames again. She would even kill if it came to it. She was never going to feel hells clutches again.

Kill.

She would kill.

Yes.

The window?

What?

Something was pulling her down. She felt it overtake her body in a comforting embrace, a slightly warm feeling of recognition and comfort soothing her aching body. This was familiar. It was loving. It wanted to take her pain.

In the distance Lucy felt herself relax completely, her body becoming a human puddle on the floor of the train, a light rocking motion starting to lull her mind away from its defenses. What was she doing on the floor anyway? She lazily tried to come up with the answer, but he pull was becoming heavier by the second. She would think about it later. Surly it wasn't more important than enjoying the gentle sinking beckoning her. As her mind finally began to relax, her eyes began to slowly drift up to meet her oncoming eyelids. Before darkness enveloped her in peace and serenity she noticed something tickle her face. Her hair was still moving. Focusing forward for the last time to find the loose, gold strand Lucy noticed her eyes were pointing up.

There was a broken box next to her, and there was a window. It was shattered, the sun gleaming against the jagged edges invitingly.

How odd.

"Looks like this one's still awake. I bet she was with those mages!"

"I don't give a shit who she is. Bag and tag, like usual. We'll sort it out later."

Then, for Lucy Heartfilia, there was nothing, and yet something ebbed at her mind.

 **So, what do you think? Leave a review with your ideas as to what's happening, and what you predict/want to happen! Also if you want this fic to have a pairing, or pairings, let me know. Thanks for reading! Hopefully I'll be out with the next chapter soon! Thank you darlings!**

 **BaxterBinx**


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